Team Malaysia

Monday, April 14, 2014

Sandakan centre a boon for Sabah sports

Sandakan: Sabah Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar
Titingan is confident that the establishment of a National Sports
Institute (NSI) satellite centre in Sandakan will help produce more
Sabah athletes in the international arena.

He said the communities in Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Beluran, Tongod and
Telupid would benefit from the centre, without having the need to travel
all the way to the Kota Kinabalu to enjoy such facilities.

"The NSI satellite centre in Sandakan began operations in August last
year and is the 10th of 16 such institutes nationwide.

"The function of NSI is to gauge the capability of athletes as well as
to raise and maintain their fitness level," he said at the launching
ceremony of the NSI satellite centre in Sandakan by Youth and Sports
Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Sunday.

According to him, the services available at the centre included various
physiological exercises for fitness test and assist athlete
physiological recovery as well as sports psychology to build mental
strength.

Meanwhile, the NSI's third satellite centre for Sabah will be set up in
Tawau next year. Khairy said increasing the centres in Sabah was part of
efforts to improve the performance of its athletes and to produce more
back-up athletes from the state.

"With an addition to the two NSI satellite centres in Sabah, namely in
Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, the best methods will always be sought to
prepare athletes based on sports science, medicine and technology.

"Moreover, Sabah is a large state," he said when officially opening the Sandakan NSI Satellite Centre.

Khairy, who is also Umno Youth chief, expressed confidence that Sabah's
young had the physical and mental attributes to achieve success in
sports.

He said this was because Sabah had since long ago proven to have
produced athletes who could compete internationally, like Datuk Gabuh
Piging who represented North Borneo then (Sabah) in triple jump at the
1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.

Sabah was also involved in football development and had produced back-up
players under the National Sports Council's programme, he added.

"Under the national football development plan, I will ensure that each
district in Sabah will have an Akademi Tunas for the young aged seven to
12 years and a District Training Centre (for those aged 13-17) by 2020.

"Sabah has a lot of talents but still lagging in terms of sports facilities, especially in the interior areas."

He said currently, there were only two Akademi Tunas and one District Training Centre in Sabah.